Some 80% accepted their offers, Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said in a memo Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley, owner of the world's largest brokerage, received about 90,000 applications for its summer program for analysts and associates.

More than 1,000 people, or roughly 80% who received offers, accepted a spot and began working in the past few weeks, Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, 55, said Tuesday in a memo to employees. A spokeswoman for the New York-based bank confirmed the contents of the memo.

Wall Street firms have been touting the selectivity of their programs for recruiting junior talent to counter worries that they're less attractive employers in the wake of the financial crisis. The acceptance rate of less than 2% is lower than Harvard College's 5.9% for the coming year's freshman class.

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"It's not going to be a constraint," Mr. Gorman said of attracting new employees in March 2012. "There will always be somebody who says 'Well, I always wanted to be an investment banker, but I've had this sort of moral epiphany, and now I'm not.' I mean, it's ridiculous."

The title of analyst typically is used for undergraduate students who intern for the summer, and doesn't refer to research analysts who recommend stocks to investors. Associates are usually graduate school students.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last year selected 350 summer analysts in its investment-banking division from a pool of more than 17,000 applicants, President Gary Cohn said in May 2013.

Morgan Stanley's summer class this year hails from more than 275 schools, according to the memo. The number of applicants is higher than last year, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information isn't public. Morgan Stanley declined to give historical figures.

"Clearly, Morgan Stanley's brand on college and university campuses is strong and continues to grow as we seek to attract and recruit the very best talent," Mr. Gorman said in the memo.